Semiconductor strain gauge

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor strain gauge comprises an elastic member having a surface subject to stress; a semiconductor substrate composed of an amorphous semiconducting material secured to the surface of the elastic member; and an electrical connection on the amorphous material for conducting a signal indicative of strain.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a semiconductor strain gauge that may be employed in various types of transducers such as motion sensing devices, scales and other instruments for measuring movements, forces and pressures, and more particularly to an improved semiconductor strain gauge wherein the semiconductor substrate is formed of an amorphous semiconductor material.

II. Description of the Prior Art

The prior art contains many examples of strain gauges, i.e. a device that is used to measure displacement, forces or other physical phenomena which produce strain in the device. One such type of strain gauge employs a strain sensitive metallic wire as the translating element. This element, when subjected to stress, undergoes a change in its overall electrical resistance. It is this change in resistance which is measured to thereby determine the magnitude of the applied force which has produced the stress. In an attempt to increase the sensitivity of these gauges, (i.e. the change in resistance produced by the strain in the element) the use of crystalline semiconductor elements were adopted. It is well known that a semiconductor crystal with a specific direction of crystal axis exhibits a piezoresistive effect, i.e. a change in resistivity caused by an applied stress. This piezoresistive effect is part of the nature of the semiconductor material and has allowed crystalline semiconductor material to be used in strain gauges which are more effective than the gauges formed of a metallic material. In fact, it is well known that a semiconductor strain gauge utilizing the piezoresistive properties of a crystalline semiconductor material has an output sensitivity several ten's of times as high as that of a conventional metallic wire strain gauge. Examples of these semiconductor strain gauges can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,084,300; 3,312,790; 3,719,913; 3,673,354; 3,705,993; 3,922,705; 3,940,730; 4,047,144; 4,151,502; 4,203,327; 4,234,361 and 4,292,618.

Although strain gauges using crystalline semiconductor material represent a large improvement over the conventional strain gauge that employs a metallic wire, known crystalline semiconductor type gauges present certain disadvantages. For example, the crystalline semiconductor materials are very sensitive to impurities which often cause inaccuracies when used in a measuring device. These materials exhibit some problems with regard to their predictable resistance. Also, there are problems of reduced sensitivity when the semiconductor material is bonded via various bonding agents, e.g. organic resins, etc., to the material being strained. Furthermore, because of various difficulties that are encountered in controlling the curing of adhesives ordinarily used to bond the semiconductor material to the material being strained, inconsistent results are often obtained. Thus, known crystalline semiconductor strain gauges exhibit definite problems with respect to sensitivity, precision and reliability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome many of the disadvantages of the type of semiconductor strain gauges disclosed by the prior art.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor strain gauge which has increased sensitivity as compared to the gauges described in the prior art.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor strain gauge formed of a semiconductor material that is not critically sensitive to impurities and which is easily deposited onto a substrate with repeatable properties.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor strain gauge that can be manufactured at a significantly reduced cost as compared to known semiconductor strain gauges.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor strain gauge that can be easily manufactured without the use of adhesive bonding agents.

The foregoing objects and others are accomplished in accordance with the present invention by providing a semiconductor strain gauge comprising an elastic member having a surface subject to stress; a semiconductor substrate composed of an amorphous semiconducting material secured to said surface; and electrical connection means on said amorphous material for conducting a signal indicative of strain.

The advantages that amorphous semiconductors have over single-crystal semiconductors when considering this type of materials use in a load cell are that they can be fabricated as a homogeneous, isotropic alloy with a temperature coefficient that is compatible with a ceramic (glass) substrate. These amorphous materials are well behaved, stable semiconductors with predictable resistance as a function of temperature. These materials are not as sensitive to impurities as are crystalline semiconductors, and are easily deposited with repeatable properties by, for example, sputtering. One of the most significant factors is that the use of an amorphous semiconductor material offers the possibility of a superior transducer at a significantly reduced cost (less labor intensive, batch fabrication). The use of this material also offers a significant reduction in the cost of the front end electronics and power supplies as compared to those required for a metallic gauge load cell scale by virtue of their higher gauge factor (approximately 10-20). Estimates indicate that weigh meter costs might be reduced as much as to 60% of those of presently used load cell scales.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention as well as other objects and further features thereof, reference is made to the following detailed disclosure of this invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

The FIGURE is a plan diagram for explaining the general construction and concept of a semiconductor strain gauge according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the FIGURE there is shown in accordance with the present invention a semiconductor strain gauge 10. The strain gauge shown comprises an elastic base member 11 that includes an upper surface 12 that can be subject to stress. For example, member 11 can be any material which is elastic to some degree, i.e. a material having a high to a relatively low modules (e.g., from steel to plastic). The member can represent, for example, a cantilever which is displaced when a force is applied thereto. The gauge includes a semiconductor substrate 13 secured to surface 12 of member 11. In accordance with the critical feature of the present invention the semiconducting substrate is formed of an amorphous semiconducting material. The amorphous semiconducting material that is used is one that is piezoresistive, i.e. the resistivity of the material changes as a function of strain.

The major distinguishing characteristic of known prior art strain gauges which employ crystalline semiconducting material is that the crystal material has its constituent atoms or molecules aligned in ordered three-dimensional arrays that exhibit a long-range periodicity . The present invention employs amorphous semiconducting material which by definition in accordance with the present invention is nonperiodic and has predominately short range order. Examples of the type of amorphous semiconductor materials which can be used include silicon, germanium, silicon-germanium alloys, P and N type silicaon, P and N type germanium and alloys of P and N type silicon and germanium, etc., all of which are known semiconducting materials. The amorphous semiconductor material dopants can include such materials as arsenic, boron, phosphorous, etc.

Semiconductor strain gauge 10 is connected with lead wires 14 to an external electrical instrument (not shown) which records or measures changes in the resistivity of the amorphous semiconducting material 13 that occur as member 11 is subject to strain. It is preferred in accordance with the present invention that the electrical connection means to the semiconducting material be at two longitudinally displaced points 15 on the amorphous material.

In those strain gauges where electrical shorting is possible (e.g. the base member is a metal) it is necessary to electrically insulate the amorphous semiconducting substrate 13 from the elastic base member 11 by a thin layer of an electrical insulating material 16. If the insulating material is directly deposited the base member 11 by, for example, a sputtering or evaporation deposition technique, the layer should be of a sufficient thickness so that there are no pin holes in the layer, i.e. a thickness range of from about 100 to about 200 angstroms would be sufficient to accomplish this result. If the insulating layer is not directly deposited on the base member, but for example, is formed of a separate layer of insulating material that is bonded onto the base member, then the layer should be of a thickness ranging from about 10 to about 40 microns.

One of the basic advantages of the present invention is that it lends itself to the use of a deposition technique for the application of the amorphous semiconducting substrate to the base member. Two well known deposition techniques can be used, i.e. sputtering and evaporation. Gauges fabricated by the evaporation deposition process can be mass produced cheaply. However, this technique is particularly good for the deposition of elemental materials. In compounds or alloys, where the elements have different melting points or binding energies, the elements tend to evaporate at different rates and the alloy deposited is usually different from the original alloy. The sputtering process can be used with a very large range of materials and will almost completely maintain the original composition and properties of the material. Gauges fabricated by this process have proven to be the most stable, accurate gauges made thus far. They have a broader temperature range and are environmentally harder than other gauges. Gauges made by these processes in accordance with the present invention can be directly atomically bonded to the substrate, thus eliminating the hysteresis of the glue and intermediate substrate of the foil gauges. 

I claim:
 1. A semiconductor strain gauge comprising an elastic member having a surface subject to stress; a semiconductor substrate composed of an amorphous semiconducting material secured to said surface; and electrical connection means on said amorphous material for conducting a signal indicative of strain.
 2. A semiconductor strain gauge according to claim 1 further comprising a thin electrical insulating layer separating said member from said amorphous material.
 3. A semiconductor strain gauge according to claim 1 or 2 wherein said electrical connection means is attached at two longitudinally displaced points on said amorphous material.
 4. A semiconductor strain gauge according to claim 1 wherein said amorphous material is secured to said elastic member by an atomic bond.
 5. A semiconductor strain gauge according to claim 2 wherein said insulating layer is bonded to said amorphous material and said elastic member by an atomic bond.
 6. A semiconductor strain gauge according to claim 1 wherein said amorphous semiconducting material is a Si-Ge alloy. 